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  House Of Cars

  Book I Fairley High Series

  A Teen Story

  by

  Shelia E. Lipsey

  Copyright 2013 Shelia E. Lipsey

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to www.smashwords.com Smashwords Store and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or article, without written permission from the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  http://www.bonitaandhodgepublishing.com

  Seraphina

  An Imprint of Bonita And Hodge Publishing

  Bonita and Hodge Publishing Group, LLC

  cover by marion designs

  Zoey Parker,

  Thank you for pushing me to write this story

  and for believing that I could!

  To the Golden Child, the Beloved Child,

  the Divine Child

  to Jermon, Deandre, Sabrina

  and especially to

  Harlynn Monroe Gray

  “Never ever give up on your dreams”

  “Think about what you have and not about what you don't have.” Shelia E Lipsey

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Book Discussion Questions

  Chapter 1

  What a way to spend Halloween night, laid up inside Pops’ 2008 Yukon Denali with him and my seven-year-old sister, Nyla. We were parked on Wal-Mart’s parking lot with nowhere to go. Earlier, I had hit an all-time season high in assists and helped lead my team, the Fairley Bulldogs, to a win, but what did I get in return? I tell you what I got; nada, nothing but a freezing cold Yukon, a couple of blankets and a worn out sleeping bag that was supposed to keep me from freezing my butt off – it didn’t work. Memphis usually wasn’t cold this time of year, but for some reason it felt like we lived in Alaska! It was just that cold outside. Pops said the weatherman said the cold weather was here to stay. Just my luck!

  It was way past midnight, but I couldn’t sleep. I peeped out the side window and caught a glimpse of people pouring in and out of the store. Even though it was late at night and had started sleeting, people were still pouring into Wal-Mart, guess ‘cause it stayed open 24/7. People in Memphis seemed like they never slept.

  Pops was posted up about middle ways in the parking lot, surrounded by plenty of other cars. I hoped Security didn’t ride down on us and haul the three of us off to jail. But so far, the security driver that kept cruising through with his music booming, “I’m Different” by 2 Chainz, didn’t seem to notice that we had been parking on the lot for the past three days. I’m different, yea I’m different, I found myself rapping along with 2 Chainz. I was different aight, different from a whole lot of kids at my school. While they had spent the early part of the day doing normal stuff and probably having fun on Halloween, here I was miserable, cold, and mad. Three months of sleeping in this ride and I was about to go crazy.

  “Pops, I need to go to the restroom,” I said.

  “Go on then, but hurry up. Handle your business and come right back,” he told me.

  I was glad my sister, Nyla, was already sleep so I wouldn’t have to drag her along. She could try my nerves, but she was my little sister so being her big brother, I tried to always be nice to her. Sometimes it was hard to do, and I would get stressed out, but I tried to take it all in stride. To catch a break, though, I pushed the blankets aside, unzipped my sleeping bag, jumped out of the whip, and struck out to the entrance of Wal-Mart. I didn’t really have to use the bathroom, I just needed an excuse to get out of that Yukon. That way I could get warm inside Wal-Mart, at least for a minute.

  I walked around the store, went over to Electronics, and played a couple of the games on the Xbox and Playstation3. I saw people shopping like they didn’t have a care in the world. Too bad, I wasn’t one of ‘em.

  Next, I went to the CD section. I searched through the CD’s until I saw Rihanna’s latest CD. I wish I could buy it, or download it to my IPod, but I couldn’t, not in my present situation. Plus, I didn’t even have an IPod anymore. I don’t know what happened to it when we moved.

  Some dudes may not like Rihanna, but I love her. It’s not that I like her songs so much; I just like her; the way she looks. That girl is soooo fine! If I was in Chris Brown’s shoes, she wouldn’t have to ever worry about me cheating on her or hitting on her. Anyway, after I looked at a couple of her CD covers and some magazines, I watched a few commercials on the giant flat screen TVs.

  After I walked through the store, I finally went to the bathroom and took a pee before I headed back to the Yukon. It was about 1:45 in the morning. When I made it back, Pops was laid back in his seat, asleep. I thought he would wake up when I opened the door, but he didn’t, and I was glad. I didn’t want to hear him questioning me about why it took me so long.

  I climbed inside my sleeping bag, pulled the blankets up over me, and laid out too, only I couldn’t go to sleep. All I could do was think about the situation we were in. I don’t know what time I finally fell asleep.

  Morning finally came and Pops took us to the gas station down the street from Wal-Mart. Me and Pops went into the men’s restroom and washed up a little, brushed our teeth, and Pops told Nyla to go in the girls’ bathroom and do the same. It was early-early in the morning, so there was no one else around waiting to get in the bathroom, which was always a good thing for us.

  We finished cleaning up and Pops drove us to school. I go to Fairley High School, and play on the varsity basketball team as a point guard. This is my first year at Fairley. Nyla goes to the elementary school close by.

  “Do your best, son,” Pops told me. “I’ll see you this afternoon. And don‘t be messing off.”

  “Yes, sir,” I replied. I jumped out of the SUV as it came to a stop less than a half block from school. Seven o’clock in the morning, and I was barely awake. I had had less than two hours of good sleep. Trying to comfortably fit my five-ten body in a tiny space in the Yukon just about every single night wasn’t cutting it.

  I ran the distance rather quickly, closing the gap between the Yukon and school in record time. I surveyed my surroundings, like I did every morning when my Pops dropped me off, before he dropped my little sister off at school. She had it made in my book because her school started at 7:15.

  As for me, I had to hang around outside the school because the building didn’t even open up until 7:45. I huddled in the corner at the front of the school building, next to the main entrance, with other students who got dropped off early, too. It reminded me of a movie I saw on TV once where this lady wrapp
ed her baby up in a bundle, placed it inside a basket, and then abandoned it at the doorsteps of some stranger, and the baby ended up living a life of wealth and privilege. Only for me the life I was living was no dream; this was real life. And I wasn’t a baby; I was fourteen years old. And we definitely weren’t living a life of privilege; not by a long shot.

  Maybe if I had been a baby I wouldn’t be in the predicament I found myself in. Maybe, just maybe I would be somewhere in a warm place, with a good hot meal and everything going right in my world. Tough chance.

  Anyway, I didn’t bother saying much to any of the other kids standing around. It was too cold to talk, so like I said I found me a corner and leaned against the cold brick wall, praying that Mr. Juarez, the building engineer, would have pity and open the doors early so we could come in out of the freezing cold. Again, no such luck.

  Finally, the bell rang and I turned and peeped inside the school building. I saw Mr. Juarez taking his time coming to unlock the doors. Soon as he unlocked the double doors, I pushed my way through the group of kids so I could feel some heat. Like the other kids, soon as I got inside, I shot off toward the cafeteria, where early arrivers had to go until 8:15 when the bell rang for us to go to homeroom.

  I don’t know what was up with Mr. Juarez, but he came from out of nowhere and stopped me before I made it inside the cafeteria. I don’t know how he managed to do that when I had just zoomed past him while he was moping around at the front entrance. Mr. Juarez was a funny looking man, at least he was to me. Now, being a guy myself, I’m not one to judge another guy, but I’m just saying, he looks a little weird, like a miniature Spanish Santa Claus.

  “Hey, Nyl, this yours?” He said in his Spanish accent and held up a beat up black backpack in his hand. It was mine. I could tell because one of the straps was torn and hanging loose.

  “Yes, sir.” I reached for the backpack and slung it over my left shoulder. I wondered how he knew it belonged to me. I shrugged, told him thanks and then went to the cafeteria, found a bench in the far corner, and laid my head down, hoping I could get a few minutes of sleep before the cafeteria started swarming with kids. But my growling stomach let me know it needed some food. I grabbed hold of my stomach, trying to quench the growl. Dinner last night had been a small order of fries and a double burger off McDonald’s dollar menu. Hardly enough to satisfy my seven-year-old sister’s stomach, so imagine how I felt; I was starving.

  By the time breakfast started, this was one of those days that I wished I was on the Free Lunch program. That way I could go straight to the cafeteria and eat whatever horrific food was on the menu.

  More students started coming into the Mousetrap. Everybody called the cafeteria the Mousetrap because the food wasn’t all that good, but by me missing meals, just about anything I got my hands on in the way of food tasted good. Pops had given me a couple of dollars plus some change for me to get something to eat, and boy was I glad. I went and bought a dry sausage and biscuit. After I stuffed it down, I got up and headed for homeroom. On my way out of the cafeteria, I heard my name being called.

  “Hey, Nyl,” a girl who was in one of my classes said.

  “Wassup, Samantha,” I answered.

  “Nyl, hey, wait up.”

  This time, it was my friend Zach. “Whaddup, Zach?”

  “I’m going to get something to eat before I go to homeroom,” he said.

  “Hi, Nyl,” another girl said as she passed me. I nodded and gave her a quick smile.

  I walked with Zach back to the mousetrap. Zach was cool. He was one of the first dudes I met when I started Fairley at the beginning of the school year. He was in the ninth grade too. We both had homeroom and three other classes together. I consider him a friend, but not enough to let him know my personal situation.

  “Hey.” Zach looked over his shoulder. “You not eating?”

  “Naah, I just got through eating some of that poison,” I answered pretending like I hated the food as much as the rest of the kids.

  “Okay, I’ll be right back.” I waited until he got his food and we both went to sit down at one of the tables where mostly freshmen sit.

  “Hey, Nyl.” This time it was Sierra James that stopped me, flashing her pretty brown eyes in my direction.

  “Whaddup, Sierra?” I answered in my cool voice. I swear Sierra was finer than Rihanna, and she always smelled like she’d just stepped out from behind a department store perfume counter. This morning she was definitely a sight for my tired eyes. I don’t know how she did it, but she made a school uniform look like designer gear. This morning she had on a short navy blue skirt, and a white blouse that was unbuttoned just enough for me get excited. The accessories she wore must have been what set everything off. Her thick reddish hair flowed around her shoulders and the hoop earrings peaked between her locks of hair. Her lips looked sexy. Man, I wish I could kiss her.

  “When are you gonna call me?” Sierra asked, flashing her eyes at me, which clearly let me know she wanted to hook up with me. But my confidence level was at an all-time low. In fact, I couldn’t see how she could like me. If we still had it like we did before Pops lost his job then I could see why she would be all over me because I had that swagger going on then, but now I felt just like the homeless kid I was; with my dingy white uniform shirt and dark blue khakis that I’d worn to school for a whole week. I did my best to keep myself neat. I was used to dressing fresh when we were living in our house, but now there was nothing fresh about me. My clothes weren’t dirty, don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t exactly fresh like I wanted them to be. I liked to have my swag on, but I’m far from being swagged out these days.

  I guess it was good that boys could wear the same clothes more than once. We tried to go to the launderette once a week to wash, but we didn’t always have the stuff Momz used to use to keep our clothes looking clean and fresh.

  “Yeah, Sierra, you know how it is; I got a lot going on right now. You know, with basketball and all. But I’ma get with you. Believe that. Now look, I gotta go.” I tried to hurry up and walk off before I got caught up in one of my lies. Sierra looked like she was mad at me when I told her that, but I couldn’t help it. What was I supposed to tell her, that the only phone I have is that free government cell phone, and my Pops won’t let me call or text anybody? Dang. So as much as I hated to, I left her standing with her two girlfriends who happened to be on the cheerleading team with Sierra. I saw them turn their nose up at me like they wanted to say something smart. I wish they would have, and I would have let them know that I wasn’t the one to fool with.

  It’s true; I wanted to get with Sierra real bad. To me, she was the finest girl in ninth grade. She was co-captain of the junior cheerleading team and one of the most popular girls in ninth grade. But now that Pops had us living on the streets of Memphis, there was no way I could push up on Sierra, or any girl for that matter, not until my life got back to normal, and who knows when that would be.

  Chapter 2

  “Sierra is really after you, bruh. What’s up with that?”

  I waved my hand at Zach. “Bruh, I can’t mess with Sierra. She fine and all, but Coach already said that during basketball season, we have to let the girls sit on the sidelines. We have to concentrate on winning. So all I got time for is improving my game.”

  Zach took the last bite of his sandwich, stood up from the cafeteria bench and stretched. “So far, looks like we may not make it to State this year. If we keep playing like we’re playing, I don’t see it happening, even though you been dropping them three pointers like crazy.” Zach laughed and gave me a pat on the back.

  “Thanks, man. I’m trying.”

  We left out the Mousetrap and headed to homeroom. When it was time to go to first period, I saw Sierra again. This time she was standing near her locker and some other dude was all up on her. She was grinning all in his face, looking at him the same way she had been looking at me earlier. When I passed by her, she looked at me like she’d been caught stealing or somethin
g. I looked off, not like I was mad or anything, but deep down I was sort of pissed but I just kept stepping. See, that’s what I mean about girls. One minute she pretending like she down for me and the very next minute she listening to conversation from the next dude. I don’t need a girl like that. I want a girl who’s gone be true to me, and as much as I wouldn’t mind hooking up with Sierra, I don’t think I could ever trust her. First, she was already popular, she was pretty, and she had a certain something about her that made the guys go crazy over her. But I wasn’t gonna fall in her trap, not if I could help it. I guess being homeless kept me from a lot of things, and Sierra James was one of ‘em.

  “Nyl, you see that? Sierra all up on dude. A minute ago she was acting all stupid crazy over you.”

  “Nyl, here’s my number, call me,” a girl walking down the hall said and put a piece of paper in my hand as she passed.

  “Yeah, I hear ya, but that’s why I don’t trust these girls, man. Especially the ones that look like Sierra. They think they all that.”

  “Yeah, but she been at you since school started and the both of you been liking each other real tough. But with all the girls going wild over you, I guess you can choose up on whoever you wanna, huh.”

  “Yeah, I ain’t gone sweat it. I got Sierra, bruh. I got her right where I want her.”

  “I hear you. Man, I wish I was in your shoes, with the girls going crazy over me,” said Zach, and we kept on stepping.

  I thought about if we still had our crib, Sierra would be in for the time of her life ‘cause I would have her so crazy about me, she wouldn’t wanna even look at another guy. But, hey, who knows when we’ll ever have another place of our own. Momz and all her talk about God, but where was God when we lost our house? Where was God when my Pops couldn’t even keep the rent paid on our one-bedroom apartment? And where was God when Momz died? Dang, life is messed up.